I met a man today ...

[JT]

... a Marine veteran, and we were of course swapping lies and he said:
"I go to all those meetings you know, and we're all telling stories, and somebody always says,
'I know you remember lining up on those yellow footprints'.
I tell 'em, 'No, I can't say as I do.'
They say, 'I can't believe you don't remember them.'
I say, 'They didn't have them in 1960. We already knew how to stand in a straight line. They didn't put those down until 1965, when the draft pool had been dumbed down.' "
...
Say it with me now: "1-2-3-4, I love the Marine Corps!"

 

[JBoyette]

lol

 

[Chuckman]

I was not party for this story, but has been passed down to me. It could be true, it could be a joke.

My dad joined the Marines in 1953. That was before they added the cross rifles to the chevrons and they changed the rank structure a little bit.

Fast forward to the '70s, after my dad retired. My dad was having a drink with an old friend from the Corps, who had gone on the Marines about 4 years earlier and served with distinction in Korea, having earned the Navy Cross. Some schmuck in the bar was talking to them about being "old breed" Marines, and my dad's friend made a comment about he was so old they didn't have the crossed rifles. This guy thought he was lying and was making a scene. The bartender who knew him came over and whipped out a black and white photo of this guy on pork chop Hill or some battlefield in Korea in the action which won him the Navy Cross.

Moral of the story? Don't eff with our military forefathers.

 

[JT]

Moral of the story? Don't eff with our military forefathers.

My GySgt at Little Creek was holding a field lecture on military ammo ballistic effectiveness. There was one E-4 smart-ass who challenged his description of the M-16 round tumbling in the body as opposed to the AK-47 round pushing straight through. Gunny Brock pulled his blouse up and said, "AK-47 rounds went in here, came out here", pointing to two pairs of holes that were obviously front-to-back and through-and-through. Then, "M-16 rounds went in here, came out here", pointing to entry wounds in the right lower back with matching exit wounds in his front right shoulder and right chest.

That was one quiet patch of ground for the rest of the class!

 

[1075tech]

Guy I knew for many years, Korean War Veteran. We were trying to talk him into taking an upcoming Honor Flight to Washington DC.

Nope. I've been on a plane 3 times in my life. Never getting on another one.

First plane ride is when they sent me to Korea.

At some point he was sent on R&R to Japan. When it was time to go back to Korea, there were too many people to fit on the plane and he was near getting on when they stopped the boarding. He watched the plane take off... and crash, killing everyone on board. He had to get on the next plane.

When he was sent home after completing his tour, the plane he was on crashed on landing.

Nope. Not getting on another plane.

RIP Louie

 

[Dan0311]

When I went to Infantry Training School on Geiger in '87, there was a friendly dark green GySgt we called "The Funny Gunny". He had eight AK holes in him. We never really knew what he did there, but he was always in a good mood. I guess surviving eight 30 cal holes would make you happy to be alive.

 

[Chuckman]

When I went to Infantry Training School on Geiger in '87, there was a friendly dark green GySgt we called "The Funny Gunny". He had eight AK holes in him. We never really knew what he did there, but he was always in a good mood. I guess surviving eight 30 cal holes would make you happy to be alive.

"Dark green." It's been a minute since I have heard that.

In my last reserve unit as a corpsman we had a master guns, a black dude who had vitiglio (large swatches of white skin), he was awesome. Super nice, super funny, just chill. I think he was the only person in the unit who had been in VN, and had two tours then.